
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994                   TAG: 9403090045
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOMEN'S TEAM FACES GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Virginia Tech's women's basketball team entered the Metro Conference Tournament this week in Biloxi, Miss., knowing its first-ever appearance in the championship game has never been so important.

Tech, which played last-place Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday in a first-round game, finished the regular season 21-5 and seemed a good bet to earn an at-large berth to the expanded, 64-team NCAA women's tournament.

"The odds are high, but it's not a lock," Tech coach Carol Alfano said Monday.

"If we lose [to VCU] we're in big trouble. If we win [over VCU], that should kick open the door. If we get in the finals, we've taken care of business."

Tech has six first-round tournament losses and seven second-round exits, including last year's 76-63 loss to eventual Metro champ Southern Mississippi. Tech, the second seed, was expected to beat VCU and earn a second-round match today with either Louisville or UNC Charlotte. Tech was 4-0 against those two this year.

Alfano was encouraged by her team's reaction after losing by 13 points at South Florida on Feb. 19. Tech won its last four games, including a one-point victory over then-19th-ranked Southern Mississippi.

"We're proud of our kids," Alfano said. "After the loss to South Florida, we came back and said, `Let's go to work.' We didn't always do it pretty, but we did it."

\ SOCCER SIGNATURES: Tech women's soccer coach Sam Okpodu's first recruiting class included six of seven signees from Virginia.

Okpodu signed striker/wing Heidi Skinner of Alexandria, forward Heather Moore of Salem, forward Courtney Sims of Springfield, midfielder Michele Olsavsky of Burke, defender Meredith Patton of Fairfax Station, defender Jaime Kwiatkowski of Fairfax Station and midfielder Melissa Pao of Greer, S.C.

"I feel confident that these players will make contributions to the team that will be remembered," Okpodu said.

\ ETC: Tech wrestler Dante Winslow, who has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, hopes for a different result this time. In his first NCAA appearance, in 1991, Winslow was pinned in the first round of the 150-pound division by Minnesota's Willie Short, who was the 10th-seeded wrestler in the weight class . . . The tennis doubles team of Scott Cuppett and Miki Pusztai beat the nation's 17th-ranked team, VCU's Fredrick Eliasson and Jonas Elmblad, in a match last weekend.

by CNB